same as he'd allus done sin first I came into Wharfedale as Mike's
bride. And when back-end set in and we'd salved the sheep wi' butter and
tar to keep the winter rain out on 'em, still Owd Jerry kept wick and
cobby, and there were days, aye, and weeks too, when I forgot what I'd
done on Ash-Riddling Day. And when I thought about it, it didn't flay me
like it used to do; for I said to misen, 'I'll keep Owd Jerry alive
ovver next St Mark's Day, choose how.' So I knitted him a muffler for
his throat and lined his weskit wi' flannen; I brewed him hot drinks
made out o' herbs I'd gethered i' the hedgerows i' summertime, and
rubbed his chest wi' a mixture o' saim frae the pig-killing, and honey
frae the bee-skeps. Eh! mon, but it were gey hard to get the owd man to
sup the herb tea and to let me rub him. He reckoned I wanted to puzzum
him same as if he were a ratton, and when I'd putten the saim and honey
on his chest he said I'd lapped him up i' fly-papers. But I set no count
on his nattering so long as I could keep him alive.

"Chrissamas came at last, and New Year set in wi' frost and snow. The
grouse came down frae the moors and the rabbits fair played Hamlet about
the farms: they were that pined wi' hunger, they began to eat the bark
off the ashes and thorn bushes i' the hedges. I did all I could to keep
Owd Jerry frae the public-house while the storm lasted, but he would
toddle down ivery morning for his glass o' yal, and, of course, he got
his hoast back agean i' his thropple. All the same, I wouldn't give in.
I counted the days while St Mark's Day, and tewed and rived and better
rived to keep him out o' his coffin. But it was weary wark, and I got no
thanks frae Jerry for all I was doing for him.

"At lang length St Mark's Eve came round, and a wild day it was, and no
mistake. There had been deep snow on the moors two days afore, and after
the snow had come rain. It was a bad lambing time, and Mike and Amos